Movie Reviews by Neils Hesse and Dr Kuma
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Review by Neils Hesse
One man is still the cutting edge, so forget what you think you know.
With great action, particularly for the first thirty minutes, you might just forget to breathe regularly. The idea is that the vampire race are under threat from a new breed of vampires called ‘The Reapers’ that attack both vampires and humans, causing the vampires that survive the attacks to become Reapers as well. Enter the Blood Pack, an elite team of combat trained vampires, who join forces with Blade to destroy the Reaper threat.
The plot is very twisty but interesting enough to keep you going till the next burst of martial art blood-filled action and when the action comes it is exactly what you would expect from Wesley Snipes aka Blade and from such a dark rich storyline. The love interest of sort for Blade is the beautiful Leonor Varela, who plays the daughter of the Uhber vampire and was recently seen in THE TAILOR OF PANAMA alongside Pierce Brosnan. Leonor Varela plays her part well and with her talent she will hopefully be given more challenging roles soon.
The Uhber Reaper played by Luke Goss is done very well and I look forward to seeing more of his work. Wesley Snipes as usual plays Blade as a rough and mean bad mutha, which is what Blade is meant to be. The other notable members of the blood pack were Ron Perlman (ENEMY AT THE GATES) he gave a very good and sarcastic performance and Donnie Yen who’s appeared in many Chinese movies in particular IRON MONKEY but was not given much screen time, which is a shame because he is a remarkable martial artist and has great screen presence.
The major flaw with the movie was the issue of the special effects which at certain parts during the fight scenes were overdone to the point of looking too much like a computer game, but this aside director Guillermo Del Toro delivers a movie that is loyal to the original but also adds a touch of his own trademark horror and visual flare whilst keeping the action fast and very furious all accompanied by a fast loud and heavy soundtrack.
Review by Dr Kuma
So, another comic strip is brought back to life, or should that be re-animated, in the form of the Daywalker Blade (Wesley Snipes).
Many of you could be forgiven for missing the first instalment, but fear not my garlic holding colleagues, because there is a re-cap over the titles of this instalment which harks back to Saturday morning serials. In this adventure Blade teams up with his arch enemies The Vampires to rid the world of a new strain of killer vampire who will infect every vampire and every human with a killer virus if not stopped immediately. The carrier for this terrible disease is …Luke Goss from Bros (the pop band of a couple of decades ago) – I kid you not. That was a better rhyme than most of his songs wasn’t it? Ah well. The strangest thing though is that he is probably the best thing in it!
So is this second instalment any good? Well, in it’s favour it does have some of the best vampires this side of the sunset, which seem to be a cross between ALIEN, PREDATOR and your normal pain in the neck vampire. The scenes where Blade and his fellow killers (The Drac Pack anyone) are attacked by the vampire hordes in the sewers of LA are really good although these vampires look far too much like the wall climbing mummies of THE MUMMY RETURNS than actual vampires. With a movie such as this the special effects are one of the most important aspects and this movie veers from the sublime (the design of the new vampires) to the really poor. The initial flight between Blade and his first vampire foe (Cat from Red Dwarf – yes really!) looks like something that was fashioned in an arcade. Its poor and so obviously computer generated. Kris Kristofferson reprises his role as Blade’s sidekick and mentor. Would’nt it have been great if Luke and Kris had met and had a ‘vocal duel’ with famous songs of theirs? Luke climbing the walls, springing into action screetching “When, will I, will I be famous” or even better “cat among the pigeons”. With Kris standing his ground by responding with his classic hit “Help me make it through the night”. Very apt indeed. Kris would have won hands down, but Luke can pleasantly remind himself that Bros murdered far more tunes than Kris.
BLADE 2: BLOODHUNT has the staple diet of vampire movies these days – a scene in an underground club that really is a little boring and obviously based on one that was done so much better in the movie it copies (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS). While we are on the subject, could someone answer these questions regarding vampires?
The club I’ve mentioned was full of blood sucking vampires when Blade and the Drac Pack arrived yet they all ran out when the trouble started. That’s fine, but what were they doing there with only 10 minutes before sunrise?. They couldn’t have all crashed in the club. Do they all live that close? If so why don’t the others just come back with stakes and do a recky of the surrounding area – surely they are all there. The other question is: Why do we never see the vampires’ tailor? All of the affected minions all wore the same rags in the sewers. Why doesn’t the vamp that makes all these clothes for the hordes never get any credit?
In it’s own credit however BLADE 2: BLOODHUNT does have its fang firmly in its cheek. It also possesses one of the best conclusions to a vampire movie involving a sunset and a pretty girl. BLADE 2: BLOODHUNT is entertaining nonsense that could have been tightened up to give it more of a bite, but will pass the time for fans of the genre, although it does bear a passing resemblance to JUDGE DREDD in several scenes which are a worry. As with most horror movies of today it is too violent which spoils the fun that could have been had, as it never takes itself too seriously either. I also expected far more from the director than we were left with, but really, if great monsters are your bag, you’ll love the vampires in this!
